Ohio’s COVID-19 Community Vaccination Center completes successful mission
Story by Spc. Jessica Silhavy, Ohio National Guard Public Affairs
CLEVELAND, Ohio (07/21/21)
The Community Vaccination Center at Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center closed its doors in June after 12 successful weeks of vaccine distribution to Ohioans.
The Community Vaccination Center (CVC) was originally scheduled to operate for eight weeks, however the decision to extend the mission was made by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, the Ohio Department of Health and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The success of this operation was made possible by the whole-of-government effort as various federal, state and local agencies worked hand-in-hand with the Department of Defense and state of Ohio to rapidly execute this mission.
In the first 10 weeks of operation, the CVC administered nearly 255,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and by the end of the 12 weeks, more than 260,000 vaccines were administered to Ohioans. As of early June, more than 40% of all Ohioans, equaling 4.7 million people, had been fully vaccinated. Several smaller-scale vaccination options are still available to Ohioans, including medical clinics and hospitals, local public health departments, commercial pharmacies and community vaccination pop-up sites.
The success of this operation was made possible by the whole-of-government effort as various federal, state and local agencies worked hand-in-hand with the Department of Defense and state of Ohio to rapidly execute this mission.
“I was most impressed with the team coming together,” said Brig. Gen. Rebecca O’Connor, the Ohio Air National Guard chief of staff and the dual-status commander for Joint Task Force Magnus, which oversaw operations at the CVC. “You know we had two weeks to do this, we had really two weeks where we all came together, tried, started planning this, and then started giving shots in arms, and everybody had that same goal.”
Throughout the pandemic, and as Ohio began to see COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, the Ohio National Guard remained dedicated to saving and protecting the people of Ohio by stopping the spread of COVID-19.
“When we started this, there were a lot of uncertainties and we were in the middle of a pandemic, but, fast forward 12 weeks, we have all of the restrictions being removed,” said Capt. Matthew Eck, a public affairs officer assigned to Joint Task Force Magnus. “I know myself and my fellow service members take great pride in knowing that we had a hand in that.”
